Herrin City Cemetery link to violent past

Chicago Tribune historical photo

Union men bury non-union scab workers on June 25, 1922 in Herrin, Ill., at the Herrin Cemetery. Twenty-three scabs were killed by striking coal miners, marking the massacre as one of the bloodiest labor battles in American history.

Union men bury non-union scab workers on June 25, 1922 in Herrin, Ill., at the Herrin Cemetery. Twenty-three scabs were killed by striking coal miners, marking the massacre as one of the bloodiest labor battles in American history. (Chicago Tribune historical photo)

Amid a nationwide coal miners strike in 1922, a Williamson County mine owner hired nonunion labor and armed guards to reopen the business. After several conflicts with union workers, the nonunion workers surrendered. They were told to leave the county and promised safe escort. Instead, union supporters walked some 60 strikebreakers to a wooded area about 2 miles from the mine, lined them against a barbed-wire fence and opened fire, killing 23.